Shakira Secures £48 Million Tax Refund from Spanish Authorities
Spain's national high court has acquitted Colombian singer Shakira of tax fraud for the year 2011 and ordered the Treasury to repay €55 million (£48 million), plus interest. The court found that tax authorities failed to prove she spent the requisite 183 days in Spain in 2011, the minimum period for tax residency.
Shakira stated the court had "finally set the record straight" after enduring eight years of "brutal public targeting" and campaigns she claimed were designed to harm her reputation and well-being.
The repayment package includes approximately €24 million (£21 million) in income tax and nearly €25 million (£22 million) in fines, which authorities had previously described as a "very serious" infringement. The tax agency has indicated it will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, meaning no payment will be processed until a final ruling is issued.
The High Court's decision specified that the fines were unlawful, as they relied on an unproven assumption that Spain was her tax residence for the 2011 fiscal year. The court calculated that the singer spent 163 days in Spain that year, 20 days short of the tax residency threshold. This ruling does not affect tax years subsequent to 2011.
This case is one of several initiated by Spain's tax agency against the artist. In 2023, Shakira reached a settlement with Spanish prosecutors concerning a separate tax fraud case spanning 2012-2014, accepting six charges and paying a €7.5 million (£6.5 million) fine to avoid an eight-year prison sentence and a €23.8 million (£20.8 million) fine. Furthermore, a Spanish court reportedly closed an investigation into her 2018 tax payments earlier this year due to a lack of evidence.
